Unit 7: The Roaring 20's and the Great Depression
Timeline
Trigger Words
Court Packing Scheme-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, frustrated by the Supreme Court's stubborn conservatism, tried to create a bill that would allow for one judge to be added to the bench for every judge past retirement age. The plan created such unrest anong congress that Roosevelt lost support even from some of the Democrats.
Huey Long- Also known as "The Kingfish", Huey Long was the Governor of Luisiana before becoming a Senator. He was a great supporter of Roosevelt but planned to run against him in the 1936 election. Before the election could take place, Long was assassinated in 1935.
Kellogg Briand Pact- The Kellogg-Briand Pact is a treaty that binds most of the countries in the world to only use war as a last resort. The primary signers were Germany, France, and the U.S. The Pact was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate and is still binding today.
National Origins Act- Part of the Immigration Act of 1924, the National Origins Act rescricted the number of immirants from any one country to 2% of the number of immigrants from that country currently living in the U.S.
Reconstruction Finance Corp- Created by President Hoover to help rebuild the economies of states, cities, and towns that had been hard hit by the Great depression, the highly successful RFC was continued under Roosevelt's New Deal.
Schechter v. US- A Supreme Court case in which the Schechter Poultry Corp. sued the Government over its regulations on the poultry market. The end result was that the Court ruled in the corporation's favor, making the National Industrial Recovery Act illegal.
Teapot Dome Scandal- During the Harding administration, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was caught selling Naval Petroleum reserves to private oil companies for an extrodinarily low rate. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes.
Wagner Act- A huge step up in labor rights in the U.S., as well as a victory for organized labor, the Wagner Act confirmed the rights of citizens working in the private sector to organize and bargain collectively.
Washington Naval Conference- A conference between 9 nations that had interests in the Pacific, the Washington Naval Conference resulted in three naval disarmament treaties that created a fixed ratio of battle ships and total ship tonnage among America, Britain, and Japan.
Huey Long- Also known as "The Kingfish", Huey Long was the Governor of Luisiana before becoming a Senator. He was a great supporter of Roosevelt but planned to run against him in the 1936 election. Before the election could take place, Long was assassinated in 1935.
Kellogg Briand Pact- The Kellogg-Briand Pact is a treaty that binds most of the countries in the world to only use war as a last resort. The primary signers were Germany, France, and the U.S. The Pact was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate and is still binding today.
National Origins Act- Part of the Immigration Act of 1924, the National Origins Act rescricted the number of immirants from any one country to 2% of the number of immigrants from that country currently living in the U.S.
Reconstruction Finance Corp- Created by President Hoover to help rebuild the economies of states, cities, and towns that had been hard hit by the Great depression, the highly successful RFC was continued under Roosevelt's New Deal.
Schechter v. US- A Supreme Court case in which the Schechter Poultry Corp. sued the Government over its regulations on the poultry market. The end result was that the Court ruled in the corporation's favor, making the National Industrial Recovery Act illegal.
Teapot Dome Scandal- During the Harding administration, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was caught selling Naval Petroleum reserves to private oil companies for an extrodinarily low rate. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes.
Wagner Act- A huge step up in labor rights in the U.S., as well as a victory for organized labor, the Wagner Act confirmed the rights of citizens working in the private sector to organize and bargain collectively.
Washington Naval Conference- A conference between 9 nations that had interests in the Pacific, the Washington Naval Conference resulted in three naval disarmament treaties that created a fixed ratio of battle ships and total ship tonnage among America, Britain, and Japan.
Primary Sources
Migrant Mother
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/migrantmother.htm This famous photo from the Great Depression depicts an exasperated-looking woman and her three kids. The journal of the photogropher claims that she found the woman in a destitute pea-pickers camp north of Los Angeles, and that the photographer was drawn to the woman for an unknown reason. The picture puts the effect of the Depression on full display, showing the woman as dirty, nervous, and protectively cluthing her children. The significance of this photo is that not only does it depict the effects of the Great Depression, the photo itself also had an immediate impct, showing the government how bad some Americans had it (they sent 10 tons of food to the camp) and influencing John Steinbeck on his writing The Grapes of Wrath. JM |
1921 Race Riot in Tulsa, Oklahomahttp://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/tulsa.html
A massive riot that cost approximately 300 lives broke out in Tulsa, Oklahoma when a white woman accused a black man of assault. Causes of the riot include the fact that many pioneers that lived in Tulsa were from the south, and that some of the black population was able to become wealthy off of the oil industry in Tulsa. This riot is significant because it shows that although progress had been made since the civil war, and African-Americans were given more freedoms during WWI, racial and social prejudices were still held in many 20's-era Americans. VJ |
Brother Can You Spare Me a Dime
http://www.tomwaitsfan.com/tom%20waits%20library/www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/talesfromtheunderground4/brothercanyousparemeadime.html Summary: This depression-era song, written by Edgar "Yip" Harburg and originally performed by Rex Weber in 1932 was a testament to the crumble of American ideals like hard work and perseverance. In it, an average and patriotic American, "Al," is forced to beg for scraps, even after spending his life doing his American duties and following the rules. Like "Al," most middle-class Americans felt cheated and lied to during the depression. Most couldn't understand how the nation had fallen so quickly; they distinctly remembered a time when everyone was "full of that Yankee Doodly Dum." Before social security, men could (and did) work all their lives, only to be left floundering when money seemed to vanish before their eyes. The song shows how unprepared America was to care for its own when disaster struck. JT |
Political CartoonRoosevelt's Alphabet Soup https://www.google.com/search?q=roaring+20s+political+cartoon&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KoItUYsR5uaLApXagZAJ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775#hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=great+depressiion+political+cartoon&oq=great+depressiion+political+cartoon&gs_l=img.3...44197.60033.4.60181.59.45.11.1.1.3.541.8281.17j9j6j5j4j2.43.0...0.0...1c.1.4.img.dxNmjiNb3A8&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42965579,d.cGE&fp=e1680341d8861bca&biw=1600&bih=775&imgrc=fMg_ksqmO3izhM%3A%3Bf4NjsZjlM9K2BM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nisk.k12.ny.us%252Ffdr%252F1933%252F33012501.GIF%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fapus-b.wikispaces.com%252Fdepression-political%252Bcartoons%3B1088%3B997 This cartoon shows FDR desperataly trying to fix a broken dish. Hes cooking up something that willl heal the depression. He has tons of ingredients representing all the laws/acts he passed, especially in the first 100 days. His vice president is in the background warning of his plan failing and it did because he brought more debt and was still in the depression once his first term was over. RG |